A decade in the making, our wayfinding system and environmental graphics for Sheffield Children’s Hospital brought clarity, warmth and confidence to one of just four independent children’s hospitals in the country — and a place that’s touched nearly every family in the city.
Sheffield Children’s Hospital
Key services
Wayfinding
Environmental Graphics
Strategy
Planning
Finding the deeper problem
The hospital’s century of architectural adaptation had created a genuinely complex environment — a rabbit warren of corridors, lifts and stairwells that staff and patients alike were struggling to navigate. Commissioned initially to introduce environmental graphics, it quickly became clear that decoration alone would never be a solution. The real issue was the absence of a holistic wayfinding strategy — and that’s where we started.
Listening before designing
Solving a problem this complex required understanding it from every angle. We consulted everyone — hospital porters, directors, parents — carried out extensive site audits and ran fortnightly workshops with an internal steering group over six months. Our most important discovery was also the simplest: communication, inside and outside the building, was at the heart of everything.
A system built for people
We reduced the entire directional system to just three sign types, introduced an alphabetical hierarchy and set type to cardinal directions — making navigation intuitive at every turn. A searchable database of every sign in the building meant hospital teams could manage revisions confidently, without unintended consequences elsewhere in the system. When a £40 million extension arrived in 2012, our wayfinding design extended seamlessly into the new wing.
Design that earns its place
Signs shouldn’t shout. We chose Fontsmith’s FS Joey — geometric, legible, with slightly softened edges — and a balanced colour palette anchored by a clean neutral. For the exterior, we turned to New Rail Alphabet, A2 Type’s faithful revival of Margaret Calvert’s 1960s typeface already embedded in the public consciousness through railway stations and civic institutions. It brought the quality we were looking for: timeless, civic, familiar, right.
A hospital worth exploring
Environmental graphics, developed in close collaboration with Artfelt — the creative arm of The Children’s Hospital Charity — gave children something to engage with beyond the clinical. Fantastical illustrated lift interiors, bold modesty screen panels, colourful tessellating patterns. A hospital that feels, in places, like it’s been designed specifically for the curious minds passing through it.
The Estates team were hugely impressed by Cafeteria's work on the new wards and main entrance at the children's hospital, and every project since has drawn the same praise from staff and families alike. Clear wayfinding, great design and engaging artwork make this a brilliant place to work and visit. Thanks to all at the Cafeteria.
Peter Knowles
Director of Estates Sheffield Children’s hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Colophon
Architects:
Avanti Architects
Type foundries:
A2 Type
Fontsmith
Photography:
Andy Brown
Reuben Brown
Shaun Bloodworth